by Stephanie Steward
Assistant Editor

Manufacturers focus on making their machines as flexible as they are fast.

Adding a PLC and touch screen improved the Filltronic liquid filler from IMA Nova.

With machinery manufacturers making consistent use of servo technology, high-speed filling is now achieved without a machine’s metal contact parts generating dust particles. Continuous filling systems can attain speeds of hundreds of containers per minute. And servo drives enable users to store recipes to make changeover quicker and easier.

These machines answer the demand for high-speed, clean-operating filling equipment. But when does the need for flexibility and control outweigh the need for speed?

“Most of our customers are looking for medium-speed machines for outputs of approximately 100 bottles per minute. The emphasis has changed to slower machines with more flexibility and quick and easy changeover,” says Dennis Vargo, central regional sales manager for Optima Machinery Corp. (Green Bay, WI). Customers want fast production lines, but they also want one machine capable of accommodating different product viscosities and containers so that they don’t have to purchase multiple filling machines.

A touch screen controller and servomotors make changeover easy with the Contiline liquid filling and capping machine manufactured by the Kugler division of Optima, says Vargo. The linear filling machine uses 11–13 servomotors that can store different recipes. Physical equipment changeover is only necessary for some products that require different kinds of caps and closures. This changeover can be done without tools. The machine still reaches speeds of up to 240 containers per minute, depending on the model, but it does the work of several machines in one because of its flexible design.

Alan Vaught, vice president of Thompson Scale Co. (Houston), a manufacturer of custom filler controllers, says customers are asking for the ability to interface controls. “People want production lines to be more sophisticated and to communicate with other systems, such as palletizers or supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems. Our controllers can be integrated into lines to do just that,” he says.

Thompson’s controllers can be integrated with load cell scales and programmable logic controllers (PLCs) to communicate net weight information to other systems on the production line. The main objective when interfacing systems, though, is to gain better control of operations. “The most basic [control system] installation uses conveyor sensors to sense bottles and to stop and start the machine, depending on the production line conditions. We can also provide statistics from the machine to a data acquisition unit or even allow the machine to be controlled by a central computer to control the whole line,” says Stewart Harvey, vice president and general manager of IMA Nova (Leominster, MA).

The preset hardware of Thompson’s controllers can be configured for applications without putting the burden of controller programming on the user. PLCs require experienced operators. “There’s a downward pressure on the capabilities of operators to use machines,” says Vaught. “Managers want easy-to-operate systems that require minimal training.” Vaught says it’s easy to program the hardware to lock operators out of certain preset controls. Operators only need to be trained to use the controllers, not to program them. “It’s easy to train, and then [you] get higher productivity out of the operator,” he says.

“Faster machines mean more output and faster equipment payoffs. But there are many issues that contribute to how fast a machine can run,” says Wayne Frick, regional sales manager, tube fillers, for Romaco USA (Pompton Plains, NJ). In addition to using servomotors, incorporating easy-to-use touch screens can mean only a few days are spent on training before an operator is functioning to get the highest output possible from a machine. “The menus on the touch screens are very easy to understand. Once the basics are learned, our other machines are going to be easy to operate without additional training. An operator can learn to operate our machines in less than a day,” says Frick. Manufacturers can also decrease the amount of time an operator spends learning about a machine by making all processes, from setting controls to cleaning the machine, simpler.

Accommodating different filling containers and products is only one aspect of equipment flexibility. Improving the cleanability and ergonomics of a machine’s design also increases what a user can accomplish with one machine. Both Frick and Joel Gray, president of Service Industries LLC (Rolling Meadows, IL), note that cleanability was factored into the designs of their companies’ newest filling machines as a way to reduce changeover and downtime. “Quick changeover is the most common request [from customers], followed by handling a wide range of tube sizes and easy cleanability between runs,” says Frick.

The Contiline’s flexible design accommodates different viscosities and closures on one machine with quick, toolless changeover.

“One important aspect of easy changeover is the increasing emphasis on better access and cleanability. This call from the industry was a big factor in the development of our new SureFill 300 slat filler. The machine allows complete internal access. You can literally walk right into the machine to inspect, clean, or maintain it,” says Gray. “By reducing the number of internal parts, we have also significantly eliminated the number of parts that need to be cleaned. Yet this machine can still run at speeds of up to 300 bottles per minute,” he adds.

Even on a smaller production scale, flexibility seems to be the most important feature a manufacturer can provide. “Number one is versatility,” says Eli Uriel, general manager for Turbofil Packaging Machines LLC (Bronx, NY). “The ability to easily do changeovers and put multiple functions on one machine chassis is very important to our customers.” Uriel says the company tries to make its human-machine interface completely intuitive to operate. “The touch screen provides quick and reliable machine diagnostics and easy operation,” he says. Turbofil’s MiniMonoblock is a tabletop machine for filling and closing small bottles and vials. It offers multiple closing functions, including plug and crimp, plug and cap, or cap. It is 32.5 sq in. “Cleanroom floor space is expensive. That is why footprint becomes a critical concern. Customers appreciate a tabletop unit with a rugged and solid build quality that can be used in a lab nad production environment,” says Uriel.

Flexibility and easy changeover are becoming the highest priorities of manufacturers and designers in response to customer needs. “We are seeing requests for equipment that is flexible and easy to change over. However, many customers are not willing to significantly sacrifice throughput in order to achieve their goals of quicker and less costly changeover,” says Gray.

Such needs are being met in ways that help maintain and increase high production speeds, most recently with the now almost standard implementation of servo technology. By increasing control through system communication, incorporating intuitive touch screens, and ergonomically improving access to filling machines, manufacturers offer users both equipment capability and productivity.

Copyright ©2005 Pharmaceutical & Medical Packaging News